Angara calls for more secured airport and bus terminals’ security nationwide

By Jason de Asis

SENATE OFFICE, Manila, April 14, 2011-Senator Edgardo J. Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology yesterday called for more secured security measures in airports and bus terminals nationwide as many Filipinos gear up for travel next week where a huge volume of tourists are expected to come this holy week.

Angara said that there is a need to double our effort to protect the safety of all these travelers whether foreign and local, saying that the holy week typically brings in a huge volume of tourists throughout the country; thus, a more comprehensive security measures in the country’s transport system are needed.

“Our airports are lagging behind our ASEAN neighbors in terms of facilities and security equipment. These issues must be addressed to cope with the increasing interest in travelling to and around the Philippines,” Angara said.

The Senator authored Senate Bill No. 2026 otherwise known as “An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Transportation Security Program, Creating for the Purpose the Philippine Transportation Security Administration (PTSA), Defining its Powers and Functions, and Appropriating Funds Therefore”, adding that the bill is also known as the Philippine Transportation Security Act of 2010 that seeks to beef up the safety and security of both employees and passengers in the different forms of transport.

He said that it would establish the PTSA under the Department of Transportation and Communications, a new law enforcement agency tasked to safeguard and protect all the modes of transportation in the Philippines.

To prevent security threats to human lives and property, a National Transportation Security Committee would also be created to liaise between the government and private transport providers.

“We must bolster safety and security in all means and modes of public transportation for the sake of the citizenry and tourists. I called for coordination and cooperation of the transport sector and law enforcement, public security and safety agencies and our countrymen,” Angara ended. (Jason de Asis)